A border agent who spoke on condition that his identity not be revealed for fear of reprisal from the Biden administration, explaining what conditions inside the detention centers is like. And from the sounds of it, it is a horrible place to work let alone live.
In family detention, the air is full of the smell of urine and vomit. There are fights in the cells of the children. Scabies, lice, the flu, and COVID-19 run rampant.
Up to 80 people are kept in cells that measure 24- by 30-foot and there are not enough mattresses to go around. The air is stuffy and that causes the centers to be veritable Petri dishes of various germs and diseases.
Children are supposed to be moved within 3 days but are being kept for 10 to 12 days because of the overwhelming crises at the border.
Border Patrol agents on the front lines are getting so frustrated that they are speaking out despite a gag order placed by Biden.
During any given shift there are 2 agents to supervise 300 to 500 detainees. They are being forced to separate children from some of the ones accompanying them because they are not related, which often happens during child sex trafficking.
There are now over 15,000 unaccompanied children in detention and that number rises significantly every day.
The agent, Carlos (not his real name) said:
“Any diseases that are in there, it’s being kept in there, like a petri dish. The smell is overwhelming.”
“We’re getting them out of here as quickly as possible, but we are so overwhelmed right now. It used to be easy to get them out in 72 hours. Not anymore. They’re staying here for 10, 12 days. It’s horrible.”
So far this fiscal year (from Oct. 1, 2020), Border Patrol has apprehended more than 29,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally. In all of fiscal 2020, just over 33,000 were apprehended, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics.
This year’s numbers are on a trajectory to surpass the 2019 crisis numbers, when 80,634 minors were apprehended.
CBP declined to provide the number of unaccompanied minors currently being held. “In general, CBP does not provide daily in-custody numbers, as they are considered operationally sensitive because CBP’s in-custody numbers fluctuate on a constant basis,” CBP spokesman Nate Peeters wrote in an email to The Epoch Times on March 23.
